Local photographer offers ‘a la carte’ photography classes

Jake Johnson of Jake Johnson Pictures will soon be offering a photography course for Maricopans who want to know how to take great photos.

Johnson says he’s seeing more and more people with serious cameras, not just the cardboard, disposable ones. “Digital camera prices have gotten better and better, and a mom or dad can pick up a great camera at a decent price these days,” he said.

Asked by friends and associates to show them how to use their new cameras, Johnson came up with the idea for a photography class to cover everything individuals need to know to get the shots they want to capture. According to him, this is a class “for those who have a great camera and cute kids, but can’t figure out how to make their shots look more professional.”

The classes will cover how to get a good exposure in any lighting environment, how to use your flash effectively, even how to use Photoshop well. Class dates, location, cost and structure are dependent on how much interest is shown.

“You bought the fancy camera; now let’s get your money’s worth out of it,” said Johnson, who plans to gear the classes to individual needs. He wants the course to be designed so a person can take one class or all of the classes within the course; he terms it a sort of “a la carte photo course.”

“Maybe you know how to use your camera well in manual mode, but you just want to learn how to use flash lighting; you could just take the Lighting with Flash class,” said Johnson. “Maybe you know how to use Photoshop really well, but you want to use your camera in manual instead of auto mode. Then you could just sign up for the Manual Exposure class.”

“The more classes you sign up for, the cheaper it gets. The entire course would be cheaper then the sum of each class,” he explained.

Johnson will also be available to take the class or segments of it to service, church or community groups. “It would be great if everyone could take pretty pictures,” he said.

If you have a creative eye and want to improve your photography skills, contact Johnson at [email protected] or by phone at 602-291-1093 to indicate your interest in taking a class or the entire course.

Photo courtesy of Jake Johnson